Mate Marked: Shifters of Silver Peak by Georgette St. Clair Page B

here’s how it’s going to be,” she continued, as Roman strolled up to her. He was wearing khaki shorts and sandals and nothing else. She blinked, trying not to stare at the swell of his biceps and his lean, muscular frame.
    Everybody was staring at her. Waiting for her to speak.
    She cleared her throat.
    “We’re going to be hanging out here all day. And probably all night. School just let out, summer camp had to close because of lack of funds, and these cubs are driving their parents up the wall. They told us we’re welcome to stay here as long as we like. Weeks. Months. In fact, they’ll come here and join us for cookouts. Pansy, stop biting Benjamin’s ankle! Go for the thigh, much meatier.”
    “Ouch?” Benjamin winced as he tried to pry the little girl from his leg.
    “Wow,” Roman said admiringly to her. “You’re no quitter, I’ll give you that.”
    “Damned straight.”
    “Watch your language, there’s children present.” He said it with a smirk.
    She snorted. “They are uncorruptible. They’re a bunch of little savages.”
    “Chelsea, I’m surprised at you.” He shook his head with an expression of mock disapproval. His silky hair flowed over his shoulders, and she swallowed hard, imagining what it would feel like to run her fingers through it. “Where are your maternal instincts?”
    “You didn’t just spend the last hour with them.” Then she flashed him an evil grin. “But you’re about to.”
    She turned and yelled out to the pack, who now had children swarming them like ants at a picnic, “You’ve got another alternative, if you don’t want to play kindergarten cop all summer long. Roman can come with me, deal with this warrant, and come back when he’s done. Benjamin can run things perfectly well until I get back! Until Roman comes with me, the kids and I are camped out here permanently. That’s going to put a real crimp in your social life. What do you say?”
    Marcus was the only one who hadn’t been swarmed. He scowled at any of the cubs who tried to come too close, and they turned and happily ran off to bother other pack members. Climbing up them Nipping at them. Hanging on their hands.
    She saw a couple of stragglers, Leland and Paul, heading towards the clearing. They were yawning and rubbing their eyes. They looked as if they’d just woken up.
    “Those two,” Roman muttered to himself. “Always sleeping in these days.”
    “Hey, Erika!” Leland called out. “What is this, field trip day? My car’s running great now, by the way.”
    Chelsea repeated her little speech for them. “So what’s it going to be?” she called out.
    A little boy whose nickname was Tom-Tom shifted to cub form, jumped into Leland’s arms, and began chewing on his hair. Leland let out a loud whoop – of joy.
     
     
     
    “Kids? We love kids!” he yelled. “We never get to hang out with kids! We’re a week ahead in our work—we’re taking the day off! Who wants to go down to the waterfall and do cannonballs into the lake?”
    Apparently, according to the children’s deafening screams of excitement, they all did.
    “Cannonballs? Waterfall? That doesn’t sound safe,” Chelsea said nervously.
    It was too late. Several of the pack’s girlfriends were already coming out of their tents, and Erika was enthusiastically joining in with the whooping and carrying-on.
    “Tonight we’ll have a cookout. Hot dogs and hamburgers!” a shifter named Petrov yelled. More screams of excitement ripped through the air. Chelsea winced.
    “Last one to the waterfall’s a rotten egg!” Erika yelled.
    “Erika! You can’t go! You…you didn’t bring a bathing suit!” Chelsea protested. “It’s not ladylike!”
    “Aw, the heck with ladylike. There’s no place for being ladylike out here,” Leland snorted, and Erika beamed, and Chelsea reluctantly found herself really liking him.
    Except that now Erika and Leland were leading the happy gang of children and shifters